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This article is about the international association football organisation. For the video games, see FIFA (video game series).
International Federation of Association Football
(FIFA)
Formation21 May 1904
TypeFederation of national associations
HeadquartersZurich, Switzerland
Membership
208 national associations
Official language
English, French, German, Spanish[1]
Sepp Blatter
Ali bin Al Hussein
Websitewww.FIFA.com
File:Zurique fifa.jpg
FIFA headquarters

The International Federation of Association Football (French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), commonly known by the acronym FIFA (usual /ˈfiːfə/), is the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its current president is Sepp Blatter. FIFA is responsible for the organisation and governance of football's major international tournaments, most notably the FIFA World Cup, held since 1930. Nineteen editions of the FIFA World Cup have been held so far. The next edition is to be held in Brazil in 2014. It is one of the most corrupt organisations in the world.

FIFA has 208 member associations, three more than the International Olympic Committee and five fewer than the International Association of Athletics Federations. It is worth noting, however, that unlike the aforementioned organisations, FIFA includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as different nations, which are usually part of the United Kingdom, or Great Britain and Northern Ireland in many other sports.

History

Main article: History of FIFA

The need for a single body to oversee the game became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. FIFA was founded in Paris on 21 May 1904; the French name and acronym remain, even outside French-speaking countries. The founding members were the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain (represented by Madrid Football Club; the Spanish federation was not created until 1913), Sweden and Switzerland. Also, that same day, the German Association declared its intention of affiliating through a telegram.

The first president of FIFA was Robert Guérin. Guérin was replaced in 1906 by Daniel Burley Woolfall from England, by then a member association. The first tournament FIFA staged, the football competition for the 1908 Olympics in London was more successful than its Olympic predecessors, despite the presence of professional footballers, contrary to the founding principles of FIFA.

Membership of FIFA expanded beyond Europe with the application of South Africa in 1908, Argentina and Chile in 1912, and Canada and the United States in 1913.

During World War I, with many players sent off to war and the possibility of travel for international fixtures severely limited, there were few international fixtures, and the organisation's survival was in doubt. Post-war, following the death of Woolfall, the organisation was run by Dutchman Carl Hirschmann. It was saved from extinction, but at the cost of the withdrawal of the Home Nations (of the United Kingdom), who cited an unwillingness to participate in international competitions with their recent World War enemies. The Home Nations later resumed their membership.

The FIFA collection is held by the National Football Museum in England.

Structure

Main article: List of FIFA Member Associations
Map of the World with the six confederations: membership details below.

FIFA is an association established under the Laws of Switzerland. Its headquarters are in Zurich.

FIFA's supreme body is the FIFA Congress, an assembly made up of representatives from each affiliated member association. The Congress assembles in ordinary session once every year and, additionally, extraordinary sessions have been held once a year since 1998. Only the Congress can pass changes to FIFA's statutes.

Congress elects the President of FIFA, its General Secretary and the other members of FIFA's Executive Committee. The President and General Secretary are the main officeholders of FIFA, and are in charge of its daily administration, carried out by the General Secretariat, with its staff of approximately 280 members.

FIFA's Executive Committee, chaired by the President, is the main decision-making body of the organisation in the intervals of Congress. FIFA's worldwide organisational structure also consists of several other bodies, under authority of the Executive Committee or created by Congress as standing committees. Among those bodies are the Finance Committee, the Disciplinary Committee, the Referees Committee, etc.

Beside from its worldwide institutions (presidency, Executive Committee, Congress, etc.) there are six confederations recognised by FIFA which oversee the game in the different continents and regions of the world. National associations, and not the continental confederations, are members of FIFA. The continental confederations are provided for in FIFA's statutes, and membership of a confederation is a prerequisite to FIFA membership.

  AFC – Asian Football Confederation
Australia have been members of the AFC since 2006
  CAF – Confédération Africaine de Football
  CONCACAF – Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football
Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana are CONCACAF members although they are in South America
  CONMEBOL – Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol
  OFC – Oceania Football Confederation in Oceania
  UEFA – Union of European Football Associations
Teams representing Israel and the transcontinental nations of Russia, Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are under the auspices of UEFA, as are, since 2002, Kazakhstan.


In total, FIFA recognises 208 national associations and their associated men's national teams as well as 129 women's national teams; see the list of national football teams and their respective country codes. FIFA has more member states than the UN, as FIFA recognises several non-sovereign entities as distinct nations, such as the four Home Nations within the United Kingdom or politically disputed territories such as Palestine.[2] Only 8 sovereign entities don't belong to FIFA (Monaco, Vatican, Micronesia, Marshall, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Palau and Nauru).

The FIFA World Rankings are updated monthly and rank each team based on their performance in international competitions, qualifiers, and friendly matches. There is also a world ranking for women's football, updated four times a year.

Recognitions and awards

FIFA awards, each year, the title of FIFA World Player of the Year to the top men's and women's players of the year, as part of its annual awards ceremony which also recognises team and international football achievements.

In 1994 FIFA published the FIFA World Cup All-Time Team.

In 2002 FIFA announced the FIFA Dream Team, an all-time all-star team chosen by fans in a poll.

As part of its centennial celebrations in 2004, FIFA organised a "Match of the Century" between France and Brazil

Governance and game development

Main article: Laws of the Game (association football)

The laws that govern football, known officially as the Laws of the Game, are not solely the responsibility of FIFA; they are maintained by a body called the International Football Association Board (IFAB). FIFA has members on its board (four representatives); the other four are provided by the football associations of the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, who jointly established IFAB in 1882 and are recognised for the creation and history of the game. Changes to the Laws of the Game must be agreed by at least six of the eight delegates.

Discipline of national associations

FIFA frequently takes active roles in the running of the sport and developing the game around the world. One of its sanctions is to suspend teams and associated members from international competition when a government interferes in the running of FIFA's associate member organisations or if the associate is not functioning properly.

A 2007 FIFA ruling that a player can be registered with a maximum of three clubs, and appear in official matches for a maximum of two, in a year measured from 1 July to 30 June has led to controversy, especially in those countries whose seasons cross that date barrier, as in the case of two former Ireland internationals. As a direct result of this controversy, FIFA modified this ruling the following year to accommodate transfers between leagues with out-of-phase seasons.

FIFA Anthem

Main article: FIFA Anthem

Since the 1994 FIFA World Cup, like the UEFA Champions League, FIFA has adopted an anthem composed by the German composer Franz Lambert. It has been recently re-arranged and produced by Rob May and Simon Hill. The FIFA Anthem is played at the beginning of official FIFA sanctioned matches and tournaments such as international friendlies, the FIFA World Cup, FIFA Women's World Cup, FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA U-17 World Cup, FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, FIFA Women's U-17 World Cup, FIFA Futsal World Cup, FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup.[3]

Criticism

Allegations of corruption and legislative interference

In May 2006 British investigative reporter Andrew Jennings' book Foul! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-Rigging and Ticket Scandals (Harper Collins) caused controversy within the football world by detailing an alleged international cash-for-contracts scandal following the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner ISL, and revealed how some football officials have been urged to secretly repay the sweeteners they received. The book also alleged that vote-rigging had occurred in the fight for Sepp Blatter's continued control of FIFA.

Shortly after the release of Foul! a BBC television exposé by Jennings and BBC producer Roger Corke for the BBC news programme Panorama was broadcast. In this hour-long programme, screened on 11 June 2006, Jennings and the Panorama team agree that Sepp Blatter was being investigated by Swiss police over his role in a secret deal to repay more than £1m worth of bribes pocketed by football officials.

All testimonies offered in the Panorama expose were provided through a disguised voice, appearance, or both, save one; Mel Brennan, formerly a lecturer at Towson University in the United States (and from 2001–2003 Head of Special Projects for CONCACAF, a liaison to the e-FIFA project and a 2002 FIFA World Cup delegate), became the first high-level football insider to go public with substantial allegations of greed, corruption, nonfeasance and malfeasance by CONCACAF and FIFA leadership. During the Panorama exposé, Brennan—the highest-level African-American in the history of world football governance—joined Jennings, Trinidadian journalist Lisana Liburd and many others in exposing allegedly inappropriate allocations of money at CONCACAF, and drew connections between ostensible CONCACAF criminality and similar behaviours at FIFA. Since then, and in the light of fresh allegations of bribery and corruption and opaque action by FIFA in late 2010,[4] both Jennings and Brennan remain highly critical of FIFA, with Brennan calling directly for an alternative to FIFA to be considered by the stakeholders of the sport throughout the world.[5]

In a further Panorama documentary broadcast on BBC One on 29 November 2010, Jennings alleged that three senior FIFA officials, Nicolas Leoz, Issa Hayatou and Ricardo Teixeira, had been paid huge bribes by FIFA's marketing partner ISL between 1989 and 1999, which FIFA had failed to investigate. He claimed they appeared on a list of 175 bribes paid by ISL, totalling about $100 million. A former ISL executive said that there were suspicions within ISL that the company was only awarded the marketing contract for successive World Cups by paying bribes to FIFA officials. The programme also alleged that another current official, Jack Warner, has been repeatedly involved in reselling World Cup tickets to touts; Sepp Blatter said that FIFA had not investigated the allegation because it had not been told about it via 'official channels'.

The programme also criticized FIFA for allegedly requiring World Cup host bidding nations to agree to implement special laws for the World Cup, including blanket tax exemption for FIFA and sponsors, and limitation of workers' rights. It alleged that governments of bidding nations are required to keep the details of the required laws confidential during the bidding process; but that they were revealed by the Dutch government, which refused to agree to them, as a result of which it was told by FIFA that its bid could be adversely affected. According to the programme, following Jennings' earlier investigations he was banned from all FIFA press conferences, for reasons he says have not been made clear; and the accused officials failed to answer questions about his latest allegations, either verbally or by letter.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Andy Anson, head of England's World Cup bid, criticized the timing of the broadcast, three days before FIFA's decision on the host for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, on the grounds that it might damage the UK's bid; the voters included officials accused by the programme.[6][7]

FIFA's choice to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, has been widely criticised by English-speaking media.[8][9][10][11][12] It has been alleged that some FIFA inside sources insist that the Russian kickbacks of cash and gifts given to FIFA executive members were enough to secure the Russian 2018 bid weeks before the result was announced.[13] Sepp Blatter was widely criticised in the media for giving a warning about the "evils of the media" in a speech to FIFA executive committee members shortly before they voted on the hosting of the 2018 world cup, a reference to the Sunday Times exposés[14] and the Panorama investigation.[15]

Two members of FIFA's executive committee were banned from all football-related activity last November for allegedly offering to sell their votes to undercover newspaper reporters. In early May, 2011, a British parliamentary inquiry into why England failed to secure the 2018 finals was told by member of parliament Damian Collins there was evidence from the Sunday Times newspaper that Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast were paid by Qatar. Qatar have categorically denied the allegations as have Hayatou and Anouma.

FIFA President Blatter said, as of May 23, 2011, that British newspaper The Sunday Times has agreed to bring its whistle-blowing source to meet senior FIFA officials, who will decide whether to order a new investigation into alleged World Cup bidding corruption. "[The Sunday Times] are happy, they agreed that they will bring this whistleblower here to Zurich and then we will have a discussion, an investigation of this," Blatter said.

Specifically, the whistleblower claims that FIFA executive committee members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma were paid $1.5 million to vote for Qatar. The emirate's bid beat the United States in a final round of voting last December. Blatter did not rule out reopening the 2022 vote if corruption could be proved, but urged taking the matter "step by step." The FIFA president said his organization is "anxiously awaiting" more evidence before asking its ethics committee to examine allegations made in Britain's parliament in early May, 2011. Qatar's success has been called into question since The Sunday Times submitted claims to a British lawmakers' inquiry into soccer governance, which included England's failed bid to win 2018 hosting rights. Lawmakers released claims by a former bid employee that Qatar agreed to pay members of FIFA's 24-man executive committee for their votes.

Hayatou, who is from Cameroon, leads the Confederation of African Football and is a FIFA vice president. Anouma is president of Ivory Coast's football federation. The whistleblower said Qatar agreed to pay a third African voter, Amos Adamu, for his support. The Nigerian was later suspended from voting after a FIFA ethics court ruled he solicited bribes from undercover Sunday Times reporters posing as lobbyists. Blatter said the newspaper and its whistleblower would meet with FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke and legal director Marco Villiger.

Allegations against FIFA officials have also been made to the U.K. Parliament by David Triesman, the former head of England's bid and the English Football Association. Triesman told the lawmakers that four long-standing FIFA executive committee members -- Jack Warner, Nicolas Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi -- engaged in "improper and unethical" conduct in the 2018 bidding, which was won by Russia. All six FIFA voters have denied wrongdoing. [16]

FIFA announced on 25 MAY 2011 that they had opened the investigation to examine the conduct of four officials - Bin Hammam and Warner, along with CFU officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester - in relation to claims made by executive committee member Chuck Blazer. Blazer, who is the general secretary of the CONCACAF federation, has alleged that violations were committed under the FIFA code of ethics during a meeting organised by Bin Hammam and Warner on May 10 and 11 - the same time Lord Triesman had accused Warner of demanding money for a World Cup 2018 vote - in relation to the 2011 FIFA presidential election. [17]

Video replay

FIFA does not permit video evidence during matches, although it is permitted for subsequent disciplinary sanctions.[18] The 1970 meeting of the International Football Association Board "agreed to request the television authorities to refrain from any slow-motion play-back which reflected, or might reflect, adversely on any decision of the referee".[19] In 2008, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said: "Let it be as it is and let's leave [football] with errors. The television companies will have the right to say [the referee] was right or wrong, but still the referee makes the decision – a man, not a machine."[20]

It has been said that instant replay is needed given the difficulty of tracking the activities of 22 players on such a large field,[21] and it has been proposed that instant replay be used in penalty incidents, fouls which lead to bookings or red cards and whether the ball has crossed the goal line, since those events are more likely than others to be game changing.[22]

Critics also point out that instant replay is already in use in other sports, including rugby union, cricket, American football, Canadian football, basketball, baseball, tennis, and ice hockey.[21][23][24][25][26] As one notable proponent of video replay, Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz has been quoted as saying that the "credibility of the game" is at stake.[27]

An incident during a second-round game in the 2010 FIFA World Cup between England and Germany, where a shot by Frank Lampard, which would have leveled the scores at 2–2, crossed the line but was not seen to do so by the match officials, led FIFA officials to declare that they will re-examine the use of goal-line technology.[28]

FIFA structured tournaments

Men's Tournaments
Women's Tournaments

Sponsors

The following are the sponsors of FIFA (named "FIFA Partners"):

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/federation/01/24/fifastatuten2009_e.pdf FIFA Statutes Aug 2009 see 8:1. Arabic, Russian and Portuguese are additional languages for the Congress. In case of dispute, English language documents are taken as authoritative.
  2. ^ "Palestine Football: Escape to Victory?". Bruisedearth.org. 27 October 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  3. ^ "FIFA anthem". YouTube. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
  4. ^ Ziegler, Martyn (18 November 2010). "Fifa suspend six officials". The Independent. London. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ Panorama, BBC One, 29 November 2010
  7. ^ "Panorama: Three Fifa World Cup officials took bribe", BBC News, 29 November 2010
  8. ^ Simon Barnes (6 December 2010). "FIFA is a gathering of nasty, mad old men". The Australian. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  9. ^ Rogers, Martin. "Qatar selection adds to FIFA's ongoing folly – World Soccer – Yahoo! Sports". Sports.yahoo.com. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  10. ^ Seltzer, Greg (3 December 2010). "Media Reaction to World Cup Voting". Philadelphia Union. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  11. ^ "FIFA, SAFA voting baffling: Sport: Columnists: Mark Gleeson". Sport24.co.za. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  12. ^ Parker, Nick (6 December 2010). "War on FIFA". The Sun. London.
  13. ^ Yallop, David (4 December 2010). "England World Cup bid: how did we get it so wrong?". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  14. ^ "BBC News – Fifa launches investigation into vote-selling claims". Bbc.co.uk. 17 October 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  15. ^ Press Association (3 December 2010). "England World Cup chief: Fifa's Sepp Blatter spoke of 'evils of media". Guardian. UK. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  16. ^ http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/6565931/fifa-meet-qatar-2022-bid-whistleblower
  17. ^ http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/923253/fifa-investigates-bin-hammam-bribery-claims?cc=5901
  18. ^ "Fifa rules out video evidence". The Guardian. London. 5 January 2005. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  19. ^ IFAB (27 June 1970). "Minutes of the AGM" (PDF). Inverness: Soccer South Bay Referee Association. p. §5(i). Retrieved 29 November 2009. {{cite web}}: Invalid |nopp=Y (help); Unknown parameter |nopp= ignored (|no-pp= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ "FIFA halts instant replay experiment". CBC News. 8 March 2008.
  21. ^ a b Previous post Next post. "Soccer Resists Instant Replay Despite Criticism , Epicenter". Wired.com. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  22. ^ "Instant replay may be a good idea, but it's a tricky one - Gabriele Marcotti". CNN. 25 September 2008.
  23. ^ Laws of the game and rulings regarding the use of video replay in other sports:
  24. ^ [2][dead link]
  25. ^ "The World Cup Needs Instant Replay Now". Soccer FanHouse. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  26. ^ "Bleacher Report". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  27. ^ Robert Smith (28 June 2010). "FIFA turns deaf ear to calls for replay". vancouversun.com. Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 24 June 2010. [dead link]
  28. ^ Coomber, Michael (29 June 2010). "FIFA boss to consider video replay". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 22 December 2010.

Further reading

  • Paul Darby, Africa, Football and Fifa: Politics, Colonialism and Resistance (Sport in the Global Society), Frank Cass Publishers 2002, ISBN 0-7146-8029-X
  • John Sugden, FIFA and the Contest For World Football, Polity Press 1998, ISBN 0-7456-1661-5
  • Jim Trecker, Charles Miers, J. Brett Whitesell, ed., Women's Soccer: The Game and the Fifa World Cup, Universe 2000, Revised Edition, ISBN 0-7893-0527-5
Wikimedia Commons has media related to FIFA.

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